Changes based on customer insight and feedback make the website quicker and easier to use

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electro components plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, has made a number of key improvements to its website to further enhance the customer’s online journey. All of the changes made, which include predictive search, improved filtering, expanded technical content and better basket management, are based on customer insight and feedback to make the website quicker and easier to use.

Several of the website changes have been implemented to make it easier for customers to find and research the products they are looking for. These include predictive search, which provides suggested product categories, brands and part numbers as well as images of the top products, together with an extensive change to the way in which products are matched in search. This ensures that search terms now return fewer, more accurate products and categories. Additionally, search filtering is now faster, and the values for key product attributes, such as capacitance and resistance, are presented in the correct numerical and value order e.g. 2mΩ before 2kΩ.

Product pages across the website have been enhanced to feature high-quality product images and, for many pages, product videos, as well as improved access to richer technical content such as application notes, 3D models, schematics, and reference diagrams.

The customer basket has been enhanced by making it easier to manage and delete products with a one-step ‘clear basket’ functionality, while both guest and logged-in customers now use just one basket across devices. This ensures consistency of the basket, eliminating the need to delete previously removed products and allowing customers to maintain the basket across different machines and between desktop and mobile devices.

Finally, a new ‘voice of the customer’ online survey has been introduced to continuously capture feedback from customers that visit the website. The results of this quick and easy five question survey will help define and shape future website enhancements.

Guy Magrath, Global Head of eCommerce at RS, said: “Our onsite user experience and search functionality are now better than they have ever been, as good as the very best across comparable B2B and B2C websites. Customers are at the heart of everything we do and we are now able to listen to them and respond to their feedback and requests quicker than ever before. Our work to continuously improve the customer experience has helped to drive eCommerce sales growth to a three and a half year high and search conversion to a four and a half year high.”